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Utah Paleontology Plea
I'm back from a week in Utah. Unfortunately my DSL is on the fritz so I'll have to wait to give a full report, and blogging might be a little light.
In the meantime, The Pandas Thumb had this plea from a Utah paleontologist with the Utah Geological Survey. I'll reproduce the text here, but go to the original post if you want to follow relevant links.
The National Park Service is requesting comments on the development of a regional paleontological repository facility in Vernal, Utah in a partnership with the Vernal Field House of Natural History (Utah State Parks). The facilty is to be constructed adjoining the newly opened Vernal Field House of Natural History in Vernal and jointly managed.
Please strongly support the development of this facility...
We need to strongly support the development of the Uintah Research and Curatorial Center in Vernal, Utah versus the alternative of No Action!
The collection facility at Dinosaur National Monument is falling apart because of substrate instability.
The Vernal Field House of Natural History does not have a collections facility in their new Museum and has basically given up their status as a federal repository until such a facilty can be constructed.
If the proposed facility is not constructed, Utah will not have a federal paleontological repository in the Uinta Basin.
Thus, many more future fossil collections from this region will leave the state, particularly those made through the mitigation of paleontological resources due to energy development.
Also the absence of a paleontological repository in the region could hinder the development of energy resources in the Uinta Basin through the slowing down the ability of local paleontological mitigation groups to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Again, please strongly support the development of this facility.
Jim Kirkland is a State Paleontologist with the Utah Geological Survey.
4 comments:
This is the situation in a nutshell:
The visitor's center at Dinosaur Nat'l Monument is no longer safe for the public or staff. It was poorly built in the 1950s and has been deteriorating badly ever since. The National Parks Service has ordered the building closed. It will need to be completely rebuilt, and the NPS has announced two plans, a new center or no action. Obviously, building a new center is the preferred course of action from a scientific viewpoint.
Jim Kirkland, Utah's State Paleontologist, has called for strong public support for the new center to ensure NPS funding. Without the new center, dinosaurs and other fossils from the area will probably be taken out of state.
The Deseret News ran this article in yesterday's paper (13 July) describing the situation.
Thanks for the additional information. I visted the center a few years ago. It would be a shame to loose it.
Well, the visitor's center is technically lost. It is beyond repair. It was closed down permanently as of Tuesday. It will have to be torn down and replaced. hopefully the new building will include a similar section where you can see the bones in situ and watch paleontologists working on them.
Also, after a more careful reading of the NPS page calling for public input, the plans are to rebuild the visitor's center and to build a separate facility in Vernal to house the collection and serve as a prep lab for the bones.
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